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“These events don’t change anything for me,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.). “If you allow impediments to public service or compromise access to yourself, you compromise the democratic process itself. Our democracy is built on access to elected officials.”

In a phone interview Monday from a snowy Minnesota-North Dakota border, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said she was on her way to a meeting with business leaders.

“I’m not changing,” Klobuchar said. “I have 13 public events on Monday and Tuesday and we’re in the middle of them. … I don’t think you can just go behind closed doors and not meet with your constituents.”

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), a former mayor of Paterson, said he “never once” used a bodyguard or other security during his six years running the city, and he wouldn’t accept one now.

“There are a lot of nut cases out there, no question about it; we all know,” Pascrell said. “But we cannot change the way we do our duty.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), a former FBI agent, and his staff received threats in 2007, including a break-in at his Lansing office and chalk outlines — like those from victims at crime scenes — drawn on the sidewalk. Rogers said he reviewed the security situation with members of his staff and family at that time but the threat later went away.

“My thing at the time was that we don’t give them what they want, don’t stop doing our job of representing the people of our district,” Rogers said of the incident. He rejected calls for extensive new security measures for rank-and-file lawmakers but said all members must be aware of their “security profile at all times” and act accordingly.

Cohen gave a lot of thought to security risks for members of Congress well before the Arizona shootings.

The catalyst was a truTV series called “Conspiracy Theory,” which once focused on his bill that would have established emergency operations centers on military bases to provide assistance during emergencies and natural disasters. But the show, hosted by former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, alleged that the bill would create “concentration camps” run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It featured images of Holocaust victims wearing Stars of David and was viewed tens of thousands of times on YouTube.

The man who approached Cohen Sunday referred to the show, asking him why he wanted to put people in concentration camps. Cohen said of course the bill wouldn’t do that and tried to explain his idea but wasn’t sure he was getting through.

In December, Cohen wrote an op-ed published in Roll Call warning that “lazy, irresponsible and fear-mongering programming” by the media could cause someone to get hurt — a warning that resonated in the aftermath of the shootings.

Cohen said he won’t do his job much differently than before, with one exception: At his next town hall meeting, police officers will stand in the front of the room rather than blend into the crowd as they usually do.

“It is for my protection but also for the public’s protection,” Cohen said. “If a policeman had been with Gabby, he might not have been able to stop [the gunman], but you wouldn’t have had [so many] people shot.”

Washington is full of Wimps and Sissys. Why take the job if you are not ready to possibly die for your convictions ? That is what this Country was founded on. Now if you don't really have the courage to do that and are not strong enough in your reason for serving then you have NO Business being there. Politics is rough and if you don't have the stomach for it then stay home. Trying to isolate yourself from the very people you suposedly represent only makes you look like a weak leech trying to make a living of the taxpayers but not willing to take any risks or face the consequences for your actions. I don't want some paranoid Politician working for me thats for sure ! Stand up for what you believe in and walk into history like a MAN !

It's unfortunate that Sheriff Clarence Dupnik's office chose to not forewarn the community about this potentially dangerous person. Surely members of law enforcement are not casually called upon to deliver letters to students who have been expelled. Perhaps the loquacious Sheriff Dupnik will clarify this issue in the days to come.

"In September, after five run-ins with campus police for disruptive behavior and the discovery of rantings on YouTube, Mr. Loughner was issued a suspension letter, delivered by police officers to Mr. Loughner's home. After he had already withdrawn from the school, the college sent him a letter informing him he would have to take a mental health exam if he were to return."

If I were a congress person, and I voted for ObamaCare, I would be concerned about my safety--not now, but once the law goes into full effect in a few years. I suspect that occasionally, some family member of a patient who dies while under medical treatment will decide that it is the government's fault and then seek revenge on a government official. This is something that will have to be taken into consideration.

"In September, after five run-ins with campus police for disruptive behavior and the discovery of rantings on YouTube, Mr. Loughner was issued a suspension letter, delivered by police officers to Mr. Loughner's home. After he had already withdrawn from the school, the college sent him a letter informing him he would have to take a mental health exam if he were to return."

I also read this and it is disturbing that until a mental guy does something the local police do not, or cannot do anything, but I do not buy that. This shooter had some drug charges in combination with complaints by the school. Why nothing from the Sheriff? He comes out and blames rhetoric, when maybe his office should and could have prevented this horrible act. Did the Az. nutjob ever get a psych exam?Mental people shoot the guns, buy them and kill. The guns don't fire themselves.

This isn't the first time. Virginia Tech is another example of it, a guy with a mental issue background,and that was also a horrible incident. Bottom line Reps. are public figures and if they are concerned about safety among their public appearances or if they have gotten threats they need a gun and a bodyguard. They have a right to protect themselves.

Washington is full of Wimps and Sissys. Why take the job if you are not ready to possibly die for your convictions

They aren't ready to die for their convictions, because they have no convictions. Most of them should be convicted of violating the public trust. These people only care about being reelected with only a handful who are genuinely there for the people.

Its too bad they are living in fear now. Its better than us living in fear of our government for so long. I don't feel sorry for them. We hired them to do work. They don't need to be campaigning the entire time they are in office. Get in the capital and fix our problems, one problem at a time, starting with jobs. Start going over the budget with a fine tooth comb and cut out the waste. Consolidate the departments down to a minimum operating standard. Sell off any property that is a waste to maintain.

We pay you to work. Maybe living in fear will stimulate them to do the job we hired them to to.

Disclaimer: Nothing in my post condones any acts of violence, but rather delineates my disgust for people who abuse the public trust and use a tragedy to meet a political end.

I don't watch Beck, but watched his show last night to see what he said.(I have seen it before a handful of times)

He had written out a big long non-violence pledge, and made statements that nothing he has ever said condoned violence. He pointed out that he could very well label the person as a left wing extremist, but he wouldn't in an odd way. He as clearly covering his bases, but at the same time, listening to him now, and a few times in the past, i don't see where he condones violence. He basically says the left are a bunch of communists and that George Soros is the root of all evil.

Seems the left are on a witch hunt to pin this deranged person to the right. Clearly it appears the guy was off his rocker and seems to have some anarchists view of things. I think the left NEEDS this so they can justify their policy after the majority of America just mandated that their platform should be rejected.

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County, where the shooting happened, told reporters the suspect had a troubled past. "All I can tell you is that this person may have a mental issue," Dupnik said.

Dupnik said there had been earlier contact between Loughner and law enforcement after he had made death threats, although they had not been against Giffords. He said the authorities believe he may not have been working alone.

Welcome to the club. I was a middle class average joe, but they decided that rich people can send your job to our enemies, without any consequences. And, at the same time, tell you that these people who reap profit margin increases of several thousand percent shouldn't pay any taxes for destroying the lives of their neighbors.

Then, the local politician crooks tell you that these rich people, who send your jobs away destroying the tax base, shouldn't have to pay for buildings that they make obscene piles of money on. Now that I have to decide between food and medicine, every purchase I make goes towards paying for a building that makes people who hit balls with sticks millionaires - and I can't stand the game.

Or they sign over our public infrastructure to other rich people, who charge you to use it - and don't fix or maintain them.

New normal for lawmakers? Slash our throats while smiling in our faces, there's going to be consequences...

The stats prove you wrong once again. Why are murder rates much lower in states that allow carry conceal than in states that have strict gun control laws such as IL, NY, DC, and MD? Gun control doesnt stop people from commiting crimes with guns. It only stops law abiding people from owning guns and protecting themselves. Criminal will always be able to get guns. But criminals are much less likely to try something on someone if they just might be able to protect themselves. Lowlife only prey on the defenseless, not the defended.

And no amount of security will protect you from a determined lone gunman. Look at every political assisnation in this country's history. It has always been about the one nut, who has managed to get thru and pull the trigger. Even President Reagan, surrounded by the Secret Service, was almost killed by a nutball with a freakin' .22 up close and personal. JFK being the lone exception, and even he fits the nutball description.

"TUCSON, Ariz. -- There's mounting evidence that the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Gifford’s wasn't a political act but a plan by a disturbed high school dropout who had few friends and no clear agenda"

Since Saturday, a new political group has emerged. Oh, they've been there all along, but unfortunately the shooting of U.S. Rep. Giffords, as well as the murder of 6 other innocent people, including a 9 year old child, has given those without the character to know better a platform they were all too willing to take advantage of. They have been on this site 24/7, they are in the Senate, and in the MSM. And yet, when asked directly, Sheriff Dupnik, who gave stronger wings to this movement, which I will now coin as Oozer's, came to this conclusion:

"Though Giffords may have been the intended target, Dupnik said there's no evidence that the shootings were part of a political agenda. Instead, he said, Loughner is deeply troubled: "When you try to rationalize irrational acts, you wind up with zero," he said."

As an Oozer himself Dupnik continued to try to tie the tragedy to his personal beliefs about the over all effect of political free speech and violence, which are one sided to say the least, but his conclusions put a nail in the coffin of the argument Loughner was politically motivated.

Um....regarding gun control....Chicago has very restrictive gun control laws and a high murder rate. In Wyoming, the murder rate is quite low, but gun ownership laws are pretty liberal.

There is NO correlation between gun control laws and murder rates. The only thing that gun control laws do is to prevent law-abiding taxpayers from getting guns. It is great for criminals - they ignore the laws anyway - and they know their victims are likely to be unarmed.

The biggest correlation to murder is when competing gangs are fighting over either turf or the drug trade; i.e., the crack wars in New York in 1980s or the drug murders on the Mexican border. Although I am a conservative, I believe that we should decriminalize pot and tax it.